Be encouraged!

Celebrating our US total!!! And had to SHARE! 

Below are excerpts from a letter by Jim Harrelson, a worker with Operation Christmas Child written to volunteers. As you can see the total has grown since he wrote this, just a few weeks ago. I was so blessed that I wanted to share parts of it with you. Whether you pack a single box, or many, or serve as a volunteer I want you to KNOW that you are partnering with God in this amazing ministry!

Think of the millions of boys and girls who will have an opportunity to hear and respond to the Gospel of Jesus through this team’s prayers, serving, mobilizing and hard work this year. I think there is much joy in Heaven as we have just finished an incredible year of sharing the Gospel with millions of children in 2012 with over 700,000 being discipled! What an opportunity and privilege. Right now over 6,530,000 more Gospel Opportunities are on their way to millions more (over 9 million internationally!)! .... WOW! Once again we marvel at God’s faithfulness, His desire to gather the children to Himself, and in allowing us to participate with Him. Thank you all for your hard work and faithfulness this year, and in leading through serving in following hard after Jesus and His example.

Since the recession hit in 2009, OCC has grown in the USA by over 1.3 million shoe box gifts! Great testimony to God’s faithfulness and His desire to bless children with redemption, and also of this team’s faithfulness and hard work.

What better picture than 10 year old Melvin in a Hindu/Muslim mountainside village in Fiji, coming to faith through OCC/TGJ, along with his grandfather, who was a Hindu priest and the local witchdoctor, with a small church being planted as a result with 10 baptisms to date! Or the young girl in Latvia who came to faith through OCC/TGJ, faithfully going to the hospital every day for several weeks to read her NT to her dad and to pray for him as he had brain cancer; with the dad coming to faith two weeks before he died. Or the Muslim Imam in a Middle Eastern country who participated in giving out OCC gifts and who watched the Jesus film showed to the children after the distribution, approaching an OCC volunteer, asking for a Bible, being prayed for and coming to faith. There are so many more stories from this processing season as well of prayers being answered, healings, folks coming to faith, many being encouraged and all feeling the love of Christ as lived out by the OCC team.